Story Highlights

BLOOMINGTON – He heads to the third floor of 10-story Ballantine Hall, once the world's largest academic building, and takes a seat among 20 students for a 75-minute lecture in "Informatics 399: Research Methods." Wearing a red hoodie and his customary heavy stubble, there is no evidence he is anyone other than one of 3,000 Indiana University students in informatics, the science of applied computing.

Most of Mark Murphy's classmates don't know he is on the football team. The instructor, assistant professor Simon DeDeo, didn't until recently. Murphy has heard about athletes being treated like dolts who don't belong in college, although he said that has never happened to him.

"I try to keep it under the radar most of the time," he said.

That is in keeping with his personality. Those who know him call him humble and grounded. Many of his Twitter posts (@MarkMurphy37) feature Bible verses.

But he happens to be one of the smartest players in college football.

A story on NFL.com made a case for the senior safety. He is one of 17 finalists for the Campbell Trophy, awarded to the sport's top scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation. He has a 3.85 grade-point average in informatics, doing coursework that isn't going to create an NCAA scandal.

"The instructors who work with him most closely vouch that he has been a great student all along the way," said Bobby Schnabel, dean of the school of computing and informatics. "He's pushed himself a whole lot more than most of our students do. He's taking hard courses. He's doing a serious capstone project."

Instead of studying opposing offenses, Murphy is learning about multi-modality, min-cut, topology and the political mosaic of ISIS connections. It can be harder to absorb than a blow from a running back.

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"That space of friendships, that space of relationships, is totally bizarre," DeDeo says. "It's so bizarre, actually, that it's even more bizarre than like a black hole."

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Murphy, 22, was born into a football family in Akron, Ohio, as the youngest of four siblings and only boy. His father, Mark, had retired from the NFL after 12 years of playing safety for the Green Bay Packers. The elder Mark Murphy is now an assistant dean and defensive backs coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he once coached LeBron James.

Football might have come naturally to the younger Murphy, but so did mathematics. He was taking high school courses while in eighth grade. He was a "sponge," his father said, picking up things quickly.

"To say where his brains come from? I don't know, man," the father said. "We joke with him. 'Hey, we're going to get a DNA test.' "

In football, intelligence isn't necessarily as important as instinctiveness. Yet there are occasions when they intersect. IU safeties coach Noah Joseph said the Hoosiers had worked on a specific alignment ahead of last week's game against Penn State.

That was manifested when Murphy jumped in front of a pass by Christian Hackenberg, juggled the ball and gathered it in before sprinting 47 yards. The interception return was Indiana's only touchdown in a 13-7 defeat. What he learned in practice, Joseph said, was applied in the game.

"The thing that helps him is, when you put it on paper or show him something, he can grasp it," Joseph said, snapping his fingers.

Freshman Chase Dutra called Murphy "the grandpa" of the safeties, although teammates haven't come up with a nickname. Dutra said he consults with Murphy during games, asking about formations. Murphy also makes calls on defense as a quarterback would on offense.

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"Our space of social behavior is far more complicated than the physical world we inhabit."

Fifteen years ago, informatics didn't exist at IU. Now it is the third-largest major on the Bloomington campus.

Last year, 350 students signed up for the major. Computing can be applied to almost anything, Schnabel said.

Ninety-one companies were represented at an informatics career fair, including retail, financial services and automotive technology. Students "really go all over the place," Schnabel said. In careers, that is. He said most graduates are employed in Indiana.

Analysis of data is applicable to all fields. A sports junkie might call it "Moneyball" gone global.

"I've always been interested in figuring out stuff, figuring out problems and trying to solve situations," Murphy said. "It's something I fell into, and I do enjoy it."

For instance, "multi-modality" refers to two things usually thought of as separate. Examples from class were politics and religion, and geography and gas prices.

This informatics class differs from others that are more technology-based, Murphy said. He is considering signing up for another of DeDeo's classes as an elective in spring semester.

"There are a few classes where, I mean, you just feel overwhelmed," Murphy acknowledged.

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"Spring loading is a really nice way to visualize, or at least to approximate, the secret bizzaro geometric and topological structure of a network on a piece of paper."

Saturday's trip to Rutgers will be the 30th Big Ten game of Murphy's career, and the Hoosiers have won only five. He said there has been frustration but added "we know there's progress."

He arrived in Bloomington as a 190-pound linebacker. As a freshman, nearly everyone he tackled was bigger.

"I felt every bit of that," he said.

He has built actual muscle – he plays at about 210 -- in addition to the intellectual kind. But he is non-committal about the future. He has an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship coming, if he wants it. He has considered law school.

He won't address pro football – NFL, Canadian or Arena leagues – and repeatedly says he's focusing on his final three games as a Hoosier. DeDeo, whose father was a Princeton fullback, said football will help Murphy when he stops playing.

"If you're working in a team environment, you learn a set of skills that you otherwise wouldn't have at that age," the professor said.

Murphy's father said his son is faster than he was and better in pass coverage. In high school, Murphy was fast enough to have run for a 400-meter relay team that won a state championship. He has 269 tackles in his IU career, third-most among active Big Ten players.

The father, who has attended nearly all of his son's college games, said he doesn't want him to have regrets. The former Packer made it to the NFL as an undrafted free agent.

Of course, with his background, Murphy could make it as an NFL executive using analytics. He "absolutely" would embrace such a role, he said. Meanwhile, he has more data to collect on the field.

"I've said I'll figure out what I'm doing once the last play is snapped and filmed," he said.

Call Star reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidWoods007.

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INDIANA (3-6, 0-5) at RUTGERS (5-4, 1-4)

3:30 p.m. Saturday, High Point Solutions Stadium, Piscataway, N.J.

Big Ten Network

IU radio network (107.5 FM and 1070-WFNI)

Line: Rutgers by 7 ½.

Three storylines:

• This is the fourth Indiana start for freshman Zander Diamont, who will try to mitigate a quarterback mismatch. Senior Gary Nova holds the Rutgers career record for touchdown passes (65). His six game-winning drives rank third among active FBS quarterbacks, and his 8,402 passing yards are 10th. The Hoosiers have gone 10 quarters without a TD pass.

• After facing three of the nation's top defenses consecutively, Indiana running back Tevin Coleman might do damage. Rutgers has been gashed for 914 yards rushing in the past three games. For the season, Scarlet Knights have allowed 10 runs of 30 or more yards, which ranks 113th out of 128 FBS defenses. Coleman has 12 such gains, ranking No. 2 nationally.

• Indiana and Rutgers are a collective 1-9 in the Big Ten and both have three-game losing streaks. So it's no wonder fan bases are grumpy. Oddly, they have two of the Big Ten's best nonconference victories, both on the road: Indiana at Missouri 31-27 and Rutgers at Washington State 41-38. Indiana coach Kevin Wilson is in the fourth year of a seven-year contract and has coped with quarterback attrition: two transfers and two injuries. Rutgers coach Kyle Flood agreed in September to a two-year contract extension through 2018. They appear safe heading into 2015.

Key stats:Rutgers has scored in 23-of-26 trips to the end zone, including 16 touchdowns. … In the past three games, Rutgers has allowed touchdown runs of 23, 33, 36, 43, 48, 51 and 53 yards. … Indiana ranks 13th nationally in rushing (261.0 yards) but has dropped to 67th in total offense (403.8). The Hoosiers have averaged 212.0 yards in the past three games. … Despite being limited to 179 yards over the past two games, Coleman ranks second nationally in rushing (152.3).